RSS not a pressure group, but a facilitator: Ram Madhav amid delay in electing BJP President
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ram Madhav has said that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is not a pressurising force or an organisation that causes any stalemate. It, Madhav said, plays the role of a facilitator, if necessary.
Madhav, who served as the BJP’s national general secretary from 2014 to 2020 and as party in charge of the Jammu and Kashmir elections in 2024, said this in response to a question on the current relationship between the RSS and the BJP and the role that the RSS plays in decisions like electing the BJP’s national president.
BJP’s next president soon: Madhav
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is RSS. So are Amit Shah and JP Nadda. On a more serious note, the process of choosing the BJP’s national president is on. The party leadership has discussed a few names. Hopefully, the new president will be elected and he or she will take charge soon,” Madhav told the Indian Express.
The remarks assume significance as Union Minister JP Nadda has been serving on an extended term as BJP Chief despite his tenure formally concluding ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
Reports of a tussle between the BJP and its ideological parent, the RSS, over the choice of the next party chief have been cited as a major reason for the delay. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur in March — a first for a sitting Prime Minister — was seen by many as a significant development in the ongoing negotiations between the RSS and the BJP.
“Although I am not an RSS functionary today, I can say with authority that RSS is not a pressurising force or an organisation that causes any stalemate. It plays the role of a facilitator if necessary,” Madhav, currently president of New Delhi-based think tank India Foundation, said.
The saffron party is moving towards rolling out the exercise to have a new national president, as the party recently elected chiefs in a number of states. This paves the way for the BJP to pick the replacement of JP Nadda, a Cabinet Minister in the Modi government since July.
On Mohan Bhagwat’s ‘retirement at 75’ remark
Madhav also responded to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent comments that politicians should make way for others after 75, prompting the opposition to question its implications for PM Modi, who turns 75 this September.
“The RSS is a very reticent organisation. If it was supposed to be a “subtle” message, it would never be said in a public programme. Any message to be conveyed would be conveyed through appropriate forums. What he said at Nagpur was in the context of reminiscing about Pingale,” Madhav explained
Although I’m not an RSS functionary today, I can say with authority that RSS is not a pressurising force or an organisation that causes any stalemate.
As for leaders stepping down, Madhav said, they are mature and will take an appropriate decision. “But there is no such age limit or any clause as far as my knowledge goes,” he said.
